Dincă on what he hopes to accomplish in the next decade:“I hope to become a little less intimidated by disorder, in the chemical sense. I find it fascinating that many of the most complex systems, be it biological or human-made, are woefully—and often necessarily—devoid of symmetry or order in the canonical sense. I really want to learn more about how one can make an ally of disorder and asymmetry and ultimately use these concepts to create materials that translate molecular properties to macroscopic function in unexpected ways.”

What his colleagues say: “Mircea Dincă is the most creative and insightful young inorganic chemist I have come across in recent years. He is bringing into existence at a blistering pace new knowledge that comes from thinking about materials chemistry at a fundamentally molecular level.”—Christopher C. Cummins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology